You’re not going to be doing any flip-tricks with this board, but it’ll let you get around without getting sweaty. The ZBoard is a motorized skateboard which is in the pre-order stages thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. It’ll set you back $500 now or $600 later. With that kind of budget wouldn’t it be fun to build your own?
This base model can go about five miles or five hours between charges. It carries a seal lead-acid battery (really?) but if you upgrade to the pro model for just $250 more you get a LiFePo that doubles the range (but curiously not the run time). To make it go there are pressure sensitive foot pads on the front and rear of the deck. This allows you to go slow with just a bit of pressure, or put the pedal to the metal to get up to the 15 mph speed limit. It’s even got regenerative breaking to slow things down while giving a boost to the battery.
The idea is nothing new. But the cleanliness that this product brings to market is something to be respected. We’re hoping this sparks some inspiration for a rash of DIY clones, kind of like we’ve seen with the Segway.
[via Engadget]
I have a feeling “Charge Time” is meant to mean the time it takes to charge, not the time between charges. That might be why it isn’t different between the two battery types.
http://xkcd.com/139/
aaaah, now I understand
So is this an ad pretending to be a hack, a make, research? Link goes right to store to buy for $499. Can we feature my latest hack to increase servo speed and holding power? http://www.helixrc.com
Hmmm… Anyone else notice it is only shown on level surfaces? Demonstrate hill climbing power vs. reduction in runtime and speed and I might be interested. Otherwise, I’ll stick to my 2-stroke skateboard that has twice the range and half the weight.
hmm, regenerative “breaking”.. that’s the same thing that Wolverine has, no? that’s awesome that it can repair itself when it gets broken.
lol…no. that means it recharges batteries while breaking.
Ooo! So close!
breaking
Verb:
Separate or cause to separate into pieces as a result of a blow, shock, or strain: “the rope broke with a loud snap”.
braking
Verb:
Make a moving vehicle slow down or stop by using a brake: “drivers who brake abruptly”; “an anti-lock braking system”.
Well I got it anyway. Well done.
Here is a fellow who build a motorized mountain-board:
http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbycity/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=12064
Seems to be working very well!
I must agree, linking straight to a shop to buy one is no way near HAD worthy!
Would DEFINITELY whip out the debit card for this if it’s comfortable going uphill, eben though for 400 big ones too bad it’s a SLA battery…
Also:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Electric-Mountain-Board/
This looks like an excellent way to hurt yourself.
Link to a shop is not a hack. :(
That being said, I built one of these about 25 years ago and got bored with it pretty fast. ;)
rich guys toy .. i like it ..
I am wondering whether they use a brushless motor, or plain old DC.I would not be surprised if it’s DC, given they also use lead batteries.
long boards already have vary fat skaters on them, so think this will keep em plump? You know what I mean when your on a bike trail and the only people you see with electric bikes are slow fat people.
thoughts from a small biking/staking city.
Thought the MIT rig a year ago was a contender for this things market. this looks simpler and yeah easy to reproduce, there have been things like this for a wile, only i guess every time a sporting wares company slaps a chainsaw motor to a skate board it just looks to serious for most users.
That’s the only way they can keep the price down is by doing a SLA battery vs Lipo of some variety and a brushed motor vs brushless with an expensive controller.
This is the least creative thing I’ve seen on hackaday in a long time. Had I had any money, I would have proved it !
They’re just “Skatey’s” with the remote switched out for pressure sensors. Probably even got those premade from Sparkfun.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8jvbwhU4qRs